Yami Bakura's Dark Past
by Jincks
Summary: (Sequel to 'Never Doubt the Heart of a Yami') How did Yami Bakura loose his heart in the first place? Maybe his past life can tell us. (Non-yaoi!)
1. Memories Once Forgotten

Yami Bakura's Dark Past  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters, or items, or anything else like that. The fic is mine though. Actually, it's a gift from me to you.  
  
Author's Note: This fic is the sequel to Never Doubt the Heart of a Yami, so if you haven't read that fic, I highly recommend you do. It will help you understand this fic better. But hey, it's up to you.  
  
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Introduction  
  
Nothing had been the same after Bakura's death. Bakura's Yami, Yami Bakura, was totally devastated. Because Yami Bakura had split bodies with Bakura, he had not died along with Bakura.  
  
"I wish I had never split bodies with him..." Yami Bakura would often say. "Then I would be dead with him and I wouldn't be suffering now. It's my fault that he's dead, and so don't deserve to live..."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 1  
Memories Once Forgotten  
  
Yami Bakura placed flowers on Bakura's grave that Sunday morning. Tears of pain rolled down his cheeks as he touched the engraved letters on Bakura's small, granite tombstone with his now gaunt hands that went along with the rest of his slimming body. He whispered to himself as he read the marker of Bakura's grave, "Here lays Bakura Ryou...Why, why did you have to die Bakura? No, it wasn't you...it was me! It was my fault you killed yourself...I pushed you too far. I should be the one in this grave..."  
  
Yami Bakura's long white hair, which reached about half way down his back, flailed in the wind. He felt the wind whisper in his ear, softly and sweetly, like a friend telling him a secret. His skin was paler than it's usual pale color, and his dark brown eyes were tired and bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in days. He took a deep, weary breath.   
  
A hand was placed on Yami Bakura's shoulder; a familiar voice with an Egyptian accent spoke to him, "Don't torture yourself, Yami Bakura...It hard on me too. I know how much you really loved him."  
  
Yami Bakura turned his head almost all the way around and gazed up with tearing eyes into the purple eyes of Marik Ishtar, a friend. "What are you doing here?! Can't you see I'm in pain?!"  
  
"I'm here for the same reason you are." Marik took off his hood to reviled his long, light blonde hair that reached his upper back in length. He had tan skin, as any true Egyptian should, and cat-like, purple eyes, each of them with a black line tattooed under them. He wore 2 golden earrings among other golden jewelry.  
  
Marik kneeled next to Yami Bakura and put a large, red rose onto the soil in which Bakura's body lied. He turned back to Yami Bakura and stared into his weeping eyes. "You loved him like a brother, like a son, didn't you? I know you did, and I also know your love for him is undying. Please listen to me, Yami Bakura. If your love for him is undying, don't you think his would be the same? Though he is no longer with us he still loves you. He always did. And though you might think that love is fragile, it's not. The love that bonds his heart and your heart is still very strong, and can only be broken by you. There is no reason to torture yourself."  
  
More tears rolled down Yami Bakura's face. "You don't understand...but then again...how could you? Bakura didn't deserve this. I did..." Yami Bakura looked at Bakura's grave and stood up, "I don't deserve life!" Yami Bakura took out his 4-inch pocketknife and put the point over his beating heart. Coincidentally, it was the same pocketknife that Bakura had killed himself with and he had done it the exact same way. He slowly began to push the knife's sharp tip into his chest. Blood started to drip from the newly opening wound that Yami Bakura was making in his body.  
  
Marik stood quickly and grabbed Yami Bakura's wrist. "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself!" With great effort, Marik was able to pry the knife from Yami Bakura's hand. "This is not what you have to do! All you have to do is love Bakura with your whole heart and soul!"  
  
"Death is too easy..." Yami Bakura said to himself. "I must suffer first..."  
  
"No Yami Bakura! That is not the way! You must love him! If you break the bond between Bakura's heart and your heart then Bakura's spirit will become a forgotten memory. Your love is what's keeping his spirit alive. He lives in you, Yami Bakura. By killing yourself you will be loosing his spirit forever. You wont be righting any wrongs."  
  
"You would love him for me...wouldn't you?" Yami Bakura said looking sadly at Marik.  
  
"Why, yes, I would, but it wouldn't be the same coming from me. It's his heart and your heart that are bonded by true and pure love. Now, come with me. We shall go fix you up and maybe even have a little something to eat..." Marik took off his black cloak and draped it over Yami Bakura's shoulders.  
  
"My heart hurts," Yami Bakura whispered. He looked down at his bleeding chest.  
  
"It must," Marik said. He put his hand onto the incision that Yami Bakura had made. Yami Bakura's dark crimson blood dripped between Marik's tan fingers.  
  
Yami Bakura looked back at Bakura's grave, "I love you, Bakura," he whispered.  
  
Marik smiled, "And that's all you need to do." He began to walk Yami Bakura back to Yugi's apartment.  
  
As they came, Yugi walked out of the shop that he and his grandfather, Salomon, owned, just below their apartment, to greet them. "What happened?!" Yugi said, looking at the blood dripping between Marik's fingers. Marik moved his hand, more blood leaked from the hole in Yami Bakura's chest.  
  
Yugi looked concerned, "Suicide? Again? Last week you tried to slit your wrists, and now this?"  
  
Marik looked back at Yugi, "I think we should go get him fixed up." Both Marik and Yugi brought Yami Bakura back inside the house. Marik guided Yami Bakura into the bathroom and wrapped gauze around his torso. Yugi took his own route to the kitchen where he began making coffee.  
  
"You really made some mess," Marik said to Yami Bakura as he tried to wash all the blood off his hands. He heard Yugi's familiar call from the living room, "The coffee's ready!"  
  
Marik brought Yami Bakura into the living room and seated him down at the table. Yami Bakura looked into his cup of coffee. Tears started to flow again. "I can't stand to see my own reflection." Yami Bakura closed his weeping eyes and pushed the cup of coffee away.  
  
"Please drink it Yami Bakura." Yugi sat at the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. "You haven't drank or ate anything in only God knows how long. You have your own body now, which means you have to feed it and take good care of it."  
  
"Not if I want to die, I don't..."  
  
"I know, but starving is such a painful way to die, you don't want to suffer, do you?"  
  
Yami Bakura stood out of anger, "Do you think it was easy for Bakura to plunge that knife through his heart?! He didn't die instantly, so he suffered all the way to his death. I want my death to be more painful than his...I want to suffer more than he ever did! He never deserved to suffer! I did and I still do!"  
  
Marik stood along with Yami Bakura, "That is a horrible thing to wish for...never...never say that in front of me..." Marik pointed the Millennium Staff at Yami Bakura's chest, "You were the only one who had ever successfully resisted my staff's power, but I am not afraid to hit you with it."  
  
"Go ahead. Beat me; beat me to death with it! I wish for death!" Yami Bakura puffed out his chest and looked as though he was awaiting a blow from Marik's staff.  
  
Marik shook his head and sat back down in his seat. "You are impossible to deal with, Yami Bakura, you really are..." He placed the Millennium rod on the floor and took a sip from his coffee.  
  
Yami Bakura looked at the both of them, sitting there so calm, drinking their little cups of coffee. A thought ran through his mind. 'Maybe they just don't care!'  
  
"Sit down, have some coffee. Please, Yami Bakura, be reasonable." Yugi said. "Come sit and drink your coffee."  
  
"Why should I? You don't care."  
  
"I do care, Yami Bakura."  
  
"Stop being stupid," Marik grunted. "Sit down and drink your coffee. If we didn't care, we wouldn't be doing this to you."  
  
"You don't care about Bakura..."  
  
"Yes we do," said Yugi with sad eyes, "but we care about you too."  
  
"I don't care if anyone cares about me...but look at you. Just sitting there with your coffee, acting like nothing ever happened! Like he never existed to begin with..."  
  
"I care about Bakura too. He was my friend..." Yugi said, looking even sadder.  
  
Marik put down his cup of coffee and stared straight at Yami Bakura's face. "We all cared, Yami Bakura, but you are the only one who can't accept the loss. People die, Yami Bakura. It's the way things are, so suck up and take it like the old Yami Bakura would."  
  
"The old Yami Bakura died a long time ago..." Yami Bakura said quietly. His voice became louder. "But he was a monster. I refuse to rekindle his flame."  
  
"Whatever, just sit down and drink your coffee. You aren't leaving this table unless you consume something."  
  
"Make me..."  
  
Marik stood up again, "Do you want me too?!"  
"I don't have time for you!" Yami Bakura left the table and began walking down the hall toward the guestroom.  
  
"I should have let him kill himself this morning..." Marik grunted.  
  
Yugi give Marik a sad puppy look.  
  
Marik scowled. "Don't look at me like that! I still hate you for what you did to me! I'm only working with you until Yami Bakura gets better."  
  
"I still don't get what I did."  
  
"Don't play stupid with me, you know what you..." Marik was cut off by the slamming of the guestroom door.  
  
Yugi took another sit of his coffee and just stared at Marik bit big puppy eyes.  
  
'He sure knows just how to look at you to make you feel awful, the stupid little git.' Marik thought. He growled and picked up his staff.  
  
Marik ventured down the hall and to the guestroom door. He turned the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed the door opened and stepped into the room.  
  
Yami Bakura lied on his stomach on the guest bed. He wasn't facing Marik, but he knew he was there. "Leave me alone..." He said quietly.  
  
"Cut it out! I'm trying to help you."  
  
"I don't want help. I want to know why I became so heartless...why I did what I did."  
  
Marik got a devious look in his eye. "I could find that out..."  
  
"Don't lie to me. Even I don't remember anymore. You're just a hikari, how would you know?"  
  
"Just a hikari?! My dear, Yami Bakura, I am the beholder of the Millennium rod, possibly the most powerful Millennium item of them all."  
  
"Yeah right. I'm sure it is." Yami Bakura said without a care.  
  
"Do I detect sarcasm in your voice?"  
  
"I believe you do."  
  
"Then let me show you the power of the Millennium rod and prove my point."  
  
"Go ahead, like I care."  
  
"Sit up, Yami Bakura, feel the Millennium rod's great power!" Marik exclaimed.  
  
Yami Bakura rolled onto his back and sat upright, placing his feet on the floor. He looked a Marik with a cynical look. "Where's the so called 'great power'?"  
  
Marik held the staff high in the air. The staff began to glow as Marik chanted a few magic words in Egyptian. Quickly he brought his staff down to Yami Bakura's eye level.  
  
Yami Bakura didn't even blink and the same sarcastic look kept itself on Yami Bakura's face.  
  
There was a silent moment where nothing happened. Yami Bakura kept staring at Marik skeptically. But in an instant, a brilliant ray of shadow energy burst from the end of the rod and hit Yami Bakura square in the face.  
  
Yami Bakura did a back flip over the bed and landed on his stomach, on the floor, on the opposite side of the bed he had been sitting upon.  
  
Yami Bakura's head was turned to the side. He blinked his eyes a few times, but everything was out of focus. He saw a blurred image of Marik approach him. The image said something, but Yami Bakura couldn't make it out. Everything seemed so distant; Yami Bakura's mind went totally blank. His eyes began to close and his vision of the world went black. 


	2. Son of Seth

Chapter 2  
Son of Seth  
  
Darkness came quickly to the Egyptian village of Kururelna. The stars twinkled brightly above the soft sands of the desert. The moon was full and lit up the horizon on which it rested upon.  
  
In a small hut in the village a woman's screams could be heard. The woman had long dark hair and soft tan skin as practically all Egyptians did. Her abdomen was bulging because she had been pregnant for over 9 months and was finally giving birth after hours of being in labor. She lied on a bed of straw, her skin shined of sweat and he cheeks were red from all the hard work she was doing, attempting to push her newborn baby into the world.  
  
Another woman with shorter dark hair, held a water-filled bowl and a cloth. Dampening the cloth she dabbed it on the forehead of the woman soon to give birth.  
  
Minuets later, the newborn came into the world. The shorter haired woman held it, taking a look at the little one. It was a boy, and a good sized one at that. Strangely enough, he had very pale skin, and even more strange, was a small tuft of purely white hair grew from the top of his head. These traits were impossible to find in Egypt. Only very old people had white hair, but it was never as white as on this baby boy. The strangest things of all were the eyes. The irises of his large eyes were a rusty brownish-red color.  
  
Nevertheless, the baby seemed quite healthy. He had great, potent lungs and was easily able to cry out all of the water that was in them without any assistance.  
  
"May I see my child?" The woman who had just given birth asked. Her skin was still wet and the redness had only started to leave her cheeks.  
  
"Ah, Meryt," Then woman holding the infant said. "A strong, healthy boy you have given birth to." The woman handed the new child, who was still wailing, to the woman she had addressed as Meryt.  
  
Meryt gently cradled her son in her arms and he quickly quieted down in the arms of his mother.  
  
"He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life..." Her face beamed with pride as she looked down at her child.  
  
"Shall I call Paneb in to see his new son?" The shorter haired woman asked.  
  
"Yes, if you don't mind. I couldn't have had the child without him."  
  
The shorter haired woman left the room without another word. She entered another room, where a tall, husky man sat upon a bench. His hair was dark and shortly cropped. A few scars covered his tan skin, but there weren't that many.  
  
"Paneb..." The woman said.  
  
The husky man, or Paneb, stood. "Is she alright? What happened?"  
  
"Meryt is just fine and you are now the proud father of a strong baby boy."  
  
Paneb's eyes filled with pride. "I'd like to see him, please..."  
  
The woman nodded and allowed Paneb to enter the room where Meryt and the child were. Closed the door behind Paneb as he walked in to let him and Meryt have their privacy.  
  
"Paneb." Meryt said, looking up at Paneb. She smiled at him. "Come look at what we and the gods have created."  
  
Paneb smiled and stepped closer to Meryt, looking at the infant in her arms. His smile immediately broke into a look of shock as he saw his child. "What is that thing?! That is not my child!" Paneb exclaimed.  
  
Meryt looked at Paneb angrily. "How can you say that about him?! I see nothing wrong with him! Do you hate him just because he looks different?! He's your child! He's our child!"  
  
"What Egyptian child has white hair as soon as it's born, and white skin too?! And those eyes...where did they come from?! It doesn't look like either of us! That's no baby! That's a creature sent by Seth (the evil god of storms and violence) himself!" Paneb roared.  
  
"Why doesn't he even deserve a chance?" Meryt held her child protectively, away from Paneb, who was a large man and could crush the delicate, newly born baby in a quick swipe of his hand.  
  
"No son of Seth deserves a chance, I say we dispose of it before it grows up and kills us all!"  
  
Meryt gasped, "He would never!"  
  
"He would and he shall. Listen, Meryt, we must kill the thing. Burn it, then drown the ashes in the Nile, and hope Seth never returns."  
  
"We will do no such thing! He is our son, like it or not, and that means we have to take care of him. And if you wont, I will. You wont lay so much as a finger on this child if I can help it. Now, quit your fussing and help me name him."  
  
"You want to name that thing?! You have to be kidding me..."  
  
Meryt gave Paneb a stern look.  
  
"You mean we are really going to keep that monstrous thing?!"  
  
The arguing of Meryt and Paneb bothered the white-haired newborn and he began to cry loudly again.  
  
"Ah, now look what you've done!" Meryt scolded Paneb. "He's crying and it's because you wont shut your big blowhole!" Meryt comforted the infant and he quieted down in less then a minuet. She smiled at her child.  
  
"Oh no...you've fallen in love with it." Paneb said more quietly as not to make the baby cry again.  
  
"Of course. It came out of me." Meryt looked down at her nameless son, whose rusty brownish-red eyes were wide open and staring straight at her. "He's so precious, so small, so fragile..."  
  
"And now you are obsessing over it. I demand that you stop."  
  
"Help me name him." Meryt looked back at Paneb, totally ignoring what he had said before.  
  
"Oh, alright, if it will make you stop. Name it 'Thing'."  
  
Meryt sighed, "I guess you really don't care, do you? Our first child, and all you want to do is kill him. You'd have a different tone if you carried him around in your stomach for hundreds of days and finally had to painfully push him out at the end."  
  
"Fine, fine. We'll call it 'Bak'. Short, simple, and nothing good wasted on it."  
  
"Let's add 'Ra' to the end, because I know he'll shine as the sun god. Bakra..." Meryt thought about this and repeated the name, 'Bakra', over and over. "It doesn't sound right...Bakra, Bakra...Bakura...Hmm...Bakura. I like that, so that shall be his name."  
  
Meryt looked down at her son, and rubbed her fingers over his plump cheek. "Hello, Bakura..."  
  
The newly named child, Bakura, even at that very young age, reached out and took a hold of one of Meryt's fingers.  
  
Meryt laughed, "Wow, he is a strong little one." She snuggled him lightly. "I love you, Bakura. Forever my baby you shall be." 


	3. Wish to be Normal

Chapter 3  
Wish to be Normal  
  
Bakura ran into the bright sun. He had grown a lot from when he was just an infant, and he was 8 years old now. Living in the bright sun had tanned his skin, it was a lighter tan then most Egyptians had, but it was a tan. But he still had white hair although it was longer, and his eyes were still a rusty brownish-red.  
  
Bakura broke into a smile as he saw the other children of the village play with a ball at the town square near the shrine to Soknegrophades, the Death God's shadow power, although they were never allowed to play in it. Everyday he'd try to play with them too, but everyday it was the same. He was different, and that's why the other children didn't like him, feared him even, but he was persistent and everyday he'd try with hopes that something might change.  
  
There were 7 children in the town square, not including Bakura. They were playing with 2 small balls, made of plant fibers tightly packed in a leather covering. The game was called handball and there were 2 teams. Each team threw the ball from their side to the other, trying to hit their opponents on the other side. It was a fun and physical sport and the children enjoyed playing it in their free time.  
  
A small girl that Bakura knew as Tutu, with shoulder length dark hair and golden-brown skin, threw a ball and it went off course, landing in the sand in front of Bakura. Bakura picked the ball up as Tutu went to retrieve it.  
  
As Tutu, only about Bakura's age, walked up to him looking slightly fearful, Bakura held the ball out. "You lost your ball." He smiled at her sweetly.  
  
Tutu took the ball from him quickly, avoiding any contact with him. She took a few steps back, keeping a close eye on him before spinning around and beginning to run away from him, holding the ball tightly to her chest.  
  
"Wait!" He said, taking a step forward.  
  
Tutu stopped and turned her head to look at him.  
  
"Can I play too?"  
  
Tutu contemplated Bakura's request for a moment. She turned her head forward after a moment of thought and ran off towards the other children.  
  
Bakura put his head down and let out a long sigh. It would never be any different. He would always be different.  
  
Just as he was about to turn around and go back to where he had came, the oldest boy, known as Ipy, the son of a scribe, approached him. Bakura was pretty tall for his age, and Ipy was only about half a foot taller. Bakura looked up at Ipy.  
  
"You want to play?" Ipy asked. He seemed to be about 10 years old. He had a blackish braid that hung off the right side of his head, the rest of his tan scalp was completely bald and his eyebrows had been cleanly shaved right off.  
  
Bakura smiled, "Yes, please."  
  
"I guess you could play this time...only because the other team needs another player to even out the number."  
  
Bakura's smile went from ear to ear. Never before had he played with the other children.  
  
Bakura got on the playing field. He already knew all the rules because he had watched the other children play so many times before.  
  
The game started up again moments later. Bakura was now among the other children.  
  
The game was quite unfair. The older boys were on one team and the younger children were on the other. So it was obviously one sided. The older boys picked the children off one by one, game after game. The younger ones hadn't won even one game.  
  
It had become quite late and the sun was barely touching the horizon. The sky was a red-orange and it turned into a flushed yellow along the horizon. The few clouds there were had glowing, golden edges as they began to depart from the sky.  
  
"One more game!" Ipy announced, throwing one of the leather balls into the air and then catching it again in the opposite hand from which he had thrown it. A devious smile marked his face.  
  
The final game went quick. The younger children were not much of a match for the older boys. They quickly disposed of the younger ones,  
until the only one standing on the younger team was Bakura.  
  
Ipy chucked a ball straight at Bakura's face. Bakura bent forward and the ball missed the top of his head by only a few inches and landed in the sand behind him.  
  
Bakura quickly grabbed up the ball and fired it right back at Ipy, hitting him hard in the nose.  
  
Ipy stood there, stunned. A small bit of blood drizzled from his nostril.  
  
Bakura had just violated one of the most important rules in the game: Ipy hates to loose. Never hit him. Ever!  
  
Everyone stared from Ipy to Bakura and back to Ipy. None of the younger children had ever gotten Ipy out before in fear of what he might do to them.  
  
Bakura looked at Ipy and then his own hands, slightly stunned about the impulsive mistake he had made.  
  
Ipy touched his nose and wiped some of the blood away. He looked as his tan fingers covered in the shiny, red liquid. He stared at them for a moment before turning his attention to Bakura.  
  
Anger burned in Ipy's eyes as he jumped on top of the white-haired boy, knocking him to the ground and restricting him to limited motion. Ipy began to pummel the younger boy with his fists. He hit Bakura in the face and the chest mainly.  
  
Bakura squirmed and took the hits but he didn't scream or cry. He had been brought up tough, because he was the son of two servants, making him a servant himself, and even if his masters were kind people who treated him and his family well, his father had treated him harshly.  
  
"How dare you, you little brat!" Ipy yelled, repeatedly punching Bakura.  
  
At that moment, mixed thoughts and emotions rushed to Bakura's brain all at the same time and something burned inside him, like a blazing fire. Something in his mind clicked and energy rushed throughout him.   
  
Bakura's hand shot upward and wrapped itself around Ipy's neck. In one powerful kick, Bakura had Ipy on the ground. Bakura then jumped on top of Ipy and reared back his fist, aiming the blow right at Ipy's face. The other children gasped as Bakura's fist made contact with Ipy's nose. It cracked and seemed to flatten with the force Bakura had applied.  
  
Ipy screamed pitifully.  
  
Bakura shook his head and looked at his fist washed with Ipy's blood. He then looked at Ipy, whose nose was in a new position and whose face was masked with blood. Bakura thought for a moment about what he had done, he had had no control over himself.  
  
An adult heard Ipy's screams and came running to the scene. Coincidentally, it was Ipy's mother.  
  
"Ipy!" She screamed, rushing over to where the boys had been combating in the sand. "Get away from my son, you little beast!" Ipy's mother knocked Bakura away from Ipy.  
  
Ipy's mother helped Ipy stand and she brushed him off. Kneeling in front of him, she cleaned some of the blood off of his face with her white dress. "Oh, darling, your beautiful nose!"  
  
Ipy sniveled in response to his mother's nurturing and his broken nose.  
  
Bakura stood up and wiped himself off, then took a step toward them when Ipy's mother put a hand out to indicate that he shouldn't take another step. This confused Bakura because all he wanted to do was apologize.  
  
"You..." Ipy's mother pointed an accusing finger at Bakura. "You...son of Seth, stay away from my family."  
  
Bakura stared at them sadly with his large, rusty brownish-red colored eyes.  
  
Ipy's mother looked haunted by Bakura's gaze. She grabbed Ipy's hand and pulled him away quickly, back to their domicile. The other children stared at Bakura momentarily before they all turned and ran from him in fear.  
  
"But...I didn't mean to..." Bakura whispered to himself. He sighed and turned back toward his master's house.  
  
His shadow cast out long upon his path as he walked toward his home. Guilt weighed itself heavily upon Bakura's young heart. He kicked the sand as he walked as thoughts that he had pondered many times before ran through his head, 'Why do I have to be so different? If I had been a normal boy I bet Ipy's mother wouldn't have gotten as mad at me. Just because I have lighter skin, and white hair, and reddish eyes people hate me. I wish I were normal.'  
  
Bakura stopped walking and looked at a pair of legs. Looking upwards a little more he could see they were the legs of Paneb.  
  
"Why are you so roughed up, were you fighting?!" Paneb demanded to know.  
  
Bakura remembered what the woman had called him, 'son of Seth'. Was he the actual son of the evil god? He'd been called a son of Seth so many times by so many people but he had never questioned it before. "No...daddy."  
  
Paneb gave Bakura a swift kick in the gut and Bakura landed on his back a few feet away. "How dare you call me your father, you little wretch! How many times do I have to tell you? Seth is your father! We only kept you because your mother fell in love with you. I remember the day you were born, the day Seth came to Earth. Now, get out of my site before I kick you harder!"  
  
Bakura scrambled to his feet and stumbled away into the house, doubled over with pain.  
  
Bakura had regained his stature when he had entered the servant quarters.  
  
Meryt was in the servant quarters cleaning the woven straw beds and the floor, her back to Bakura. She didn't notice him enter.  
  
"Mommy?" He begged for her attention.  
  
Meryt turned around, "Bakura..." She saw the bruises and cuts he had from being punched. "Bakura, darling, what happened to you?"  
  
Bakura hustled over to his mother and hugged her waist, snuggling his head in her stomach, again large and round, pregnant with her second child that was due any day, now.  
  
Meryt stroked Bakura's white hair. It was unevenly cut and it naturally stuck up in strange directions. There was an odd moment of silence as she stroked his hair and he did not respond.  
  
"Did Paneb do this to you?" Meryt tried to sound calm but was a little worked up because she knew that Paneb never learned to like Bakura and would sometimes beat him. Because Paneb was so big, there was nothing a little, delicate woman like Meryt could do.  
  
"No, mommy..."  
  
"How did you get hurt so badly?" Meryt was concerned; what if not only Paneb was beating on her child, but what if other people had begun beating on him as well.  
  
"Mommy, is Seth my real daddy?" He looked up at his mother with anxious eyes.  
  
Meryt was a bit taken aback. "Of course not, sweetie...Why is it that you ask me this?"  
  
"Because I'm so different."  
  
"Different? Bakura...you're a human like all the rest of us."  
  
"I look different. Everyone else has normal hair, and normal skin, and normal eyes..."  
  
"What's on the outside doesn't matter. It's the inside that matters. You have feelings, you're intelligent, you breathe the air, and you have a heart that beats. Just because you're different doesn't mean that you aren't beautiful." Meryt crouched down on one knee so she was about Bakura's height. "You're differences make you who you are, and that, to me, is beautiful."  
  
"Mommy...I don't want to be beautiful, I want to be normal."  
  
"No one is really normal, we all look and act different."  
  
"But I look too different. Why can't I change the way I look?"  
  
"I love the way you look now. You're a wonderful child. If you changed yourself at all it would make me very sad."  
  
"Okay, I wont make you sad, mommy." He wrapped his arms around his mother's neck and softly hugged her.  
  
Meryt hugged him too. She ran her fingers over his bare back, for he was only wearing a kilt as most young boys do, and she felt the crevices of scars and new cuts. Her eyes welled with tears as she thought of what her son had faced and what he would probably have to face all of his life. She sniffled lightly.  
  
Bakura pushed away from her and looked into her tearing eyes. He pushed a lock of hair from her face and placed it over her ear. "Why are you crying mommy?"  
  
Meryt faked a smile, but tears still found their way through her eyes. She softly stroked his hair again. "I'm crying because I love you." Meryt was afraid to tell Bakura what she predicted his future to be like; he was only a young child, after all.  
  
"I love you too, but I'm not crying. I thought love was supposed to make you happy."  
  
"Loving someone does make you happy, but you can also feel their pain and you can feel their sadness."  
  
"I feel sad that you're sad, mommy. But you don't have to cry. I want you to be happy, that way we can both be happy."  
  
Meryt pulled Bakura toward her and held him tightly. She continued to cry, but was relieved that Bakura didn't seem to fully understand.  
  
Bakura held his arms around his mother, unsure of what was going on. "I love you. You're are my mommy and my best friend." 


	4. Newly Loved

Chapter 4  
Newly Loved  
  
Bakura sat on the back steps to his Master's home. In the sand, with his toes, he drew pictures of him and his mother holding hands and being happy together. The drawing was quite good for a boy Bakura's age, especially because no one had ever taught him how to draw.  
  
Bakura was a very intelligent boy and he caught onto things very quickly. He was talented at most of the things he did. Meryt had once said, "Bakura, you don't belong here as a servant. You have a mind and heart godly enough to rule Egypt." She had always seen something special in him. Sometimes she did see him as the son of a god, like most people, but she saw him as the son of Ra, or maybe even Amon, the ruler of all Egyptian gods, but never as the son of Seth.  
  
Bakura sat by himself outside. It was the day after the incident with Ipy and Bakura hadn't gone into the village that day. He hated it when people stared at him, and everywhere he went they would just stare. He could feel their eyes piercing him all the time. Seeing only his hair, and eyes, and skin, but never seeing inside, at his heart. People tried to make as little contact with Bakura as possible, thinking he would curse them or something. They wouldn't even look at his eyes, the color so abnormal to them.  
  
Bakura stopped drawing and looked at the picture he had made in the golden sand. He sighed and looked up into the sky. The sun was almost gone beyond the horizon and darkness had begun to settle in.  
  
A woman's screams came from the servant quarters. Bakura knew they were his mother's screams, but he just sat there and winced at the sound of them. He longed to be with her, but his father had told him to stay outside while the new baby was being born.  
  
'What will the baby be like?' Wondered Bakura, 'Will it be a brother, or a sister; maybe it will be more then one baby. What are my parents going name it? Will it be normal like everyone else, or different like me? I hope it isn't different like me...'  
  
Another scream broke Bakura's concentration. He hoped that it didn't hurt his mom too much to have a baby, but he knew that with all that screaming it probably hurt more than anything.  
  
Bakura looked back down and began to draw in the sand again. He had never learned how to write, and if the rest of his life was spent as a servant, he never would, so he began to make up his own alphabet. He made a symbol for each word he could think of. For a long time he worked on his own alphabet of picture-words.  
  
Minuets turned into hours and soon enough it was too dark to draw anymore. Bakura looked down at the sand. There was a long line of symbols stretched out across the sand, although Bakura could barely see them, but nonetheless he was proud of what he had made.  
  
The sound of a deep voice Bakura stiffen for a moment. "What are those?"  
  
Bakura turned his head and looked up at Paneb. Bakura's eye followed Paneb's shoulder, to his arm, to his finger, aimed straight at his list of symbols in the sand.  
  
"I'm writing." Bakura said, looking at the marks in the sand.  
  
"How could you know how to write?!" Paneb looked at the picture-word markings almost in terror. He feared Bakura's intelligence, thinking that Seth had given it to the poor boy. Paneb didn't know how to read or write so he didn't know if they were really words or letters or just scribbles. "This is evil!" Paneb stood on Bakura's sand writing and began to stomp on them and kick them until there was no more of them.  
  
Bakura watched helplessly as all the time and effort he had put into thinking up and writing those picture-words was kicked and stomped away by his father.  
  
Paneb looked up at Bakura in anger and frustration. "If I ever see anything like that ever again...I will kill you!"  
  
Bakura looked at Paneb sadly. He was sadder about all the effort and time he had used was crushed by his father, otherwise death threats didn't bother him, he received them on a day-to-day basis. "I don't know how to write...I was making my own alphabet..."  
  
Paneb looked a bit shocked that he had crushed something that was completely innocent, thinking it was something terrible, and then threatened death on his son. He thought up a conclusion, more of an excuse, so he wouldn't have to feel guilty about being wrong. "They probably meant something to the gods, something evil...and they were put in your mind by Seth. He used you to get his message out upon the world. Who knows what those words could have done? It could have been some kind of spell to release evil!"  
  
"I'm...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." Bakura lowered his head shamefully, although he didn't think he had done anything wrong by writing in the sand.  
  
"There's nothing we can do now, it's already too late." Paneb sighed. "Meryt just had her child too. I didn't want you to see it, but she would not let me see it unless you were there. Her love is the only thing protecting you, you hear?!"  
  
Bakura nodded, but underneath it all Bakura felt, anger grow stronger, hatred too.  
  
Paneb walked passed Bakura and into the home of his and Bakura's master. Bakura followed Paneb until they reached the servant quarters. Bakura set off running ahead of Paneb and to his mother's side.  
  
"Mommy!" Bakura said as he collapsed beside his mother.  
  
"Bakura..." Meryt said with a smile as she looked at him. "Look at your new little sister."  
  
Bakura peaked over his mother's arm at a tightly wrapped bundle with a pudgy, tan face. A puff of black hair stood up on the crown of the baby girl's head, and she had big dark eyes, much like her mother's. She was already washed of the blood and looked quietly at Bakura.  
  
Bakura smiled at his new little sister. "Mommy...she's so cute. Can I touch her?"  
  
"If you promise to be very gentle."  
  
"I promise." Bakura said, putting a hand out and touching the baby's cheek. "She's so soft..."  
  
Meryt smiled at her children as they interacted for the very first time.  
  
Paneb stepped up behind Bakura and lifted Bakura off the ground and put him down to the side. Paneb then crouched next to Meryt. "Meryt, our daughter is beautiful, finally something I can be proud of. What shall we name her?"  
  
Meryt looked at Paneb in irritation. "Maybe we should name it 'Thing'. Short, simple, and nothing good wasted on it."  
  
Paneb looked quite confused. "Why in the world would we name it that? Any good name wouldn't be a waste, she's beautiful."  
  
"Don't remember those words, do you, Paneb? Those are your words. Those are the words you used when I had my first and only son. He means just as much as my daughter, the daughter that could be the daughter of Seth for all you know! You didn't care about my first child, why should you care about my second?"  
  
Paneb looked stunned. "But...they're so different...I mean, look at them. This is a normal baby, while that...that...Seth offspring has features no one else has; do you know what he wrote in the sand?!"  
  
"Are looks are all that matter to you? Did you just impregnate me because you like the way I look? Bakura has never done anything wrong. He never whines, he never disobeys. He's practically the perfect child, and you treat him like he's a killer. Bakura and I are going to name and raise this baby; she'll probably turn out better without your parenting." Meryt moved her infant away from Paneb.  
  
"You know what?! Fine! I want nothing to do with you and your little monsters!" With that, Paneb stood up and tromped out, slamming the door behind him.  
  
The new baby began to cry with the loud bang of the door.  
  
Meryt cradled her new child and the baby began to quiet down.  
  
After everything had settled down Meryt turned toward Bakura, "Bakura, darling, you can come here, now."  
  
Bakura slid closer to his mother and new sister. "Okay, mommy."  
  
Meryt smiled at Bakura. "Don't worry, Bakura, I wont let him hurt you anymore. It does make me wonder sometimes...how could that man be the father of such a wonderful boy?"  
  
Bakura did not reply, he just stared quietly at the infant in his mother's arms.  
  
Meryt saw a somewhat distressed look on Bakura's face. Her face turned to worry. "Is there something bothering you, sweetie?"  
  
Bakura stared at the baby a moment longer before quickly looking at his mother and replying with, "I'm fine." Though inside, he was confused, very confused by the hate and the anger but also about the love he had for his mother and baby sister, all the emotions were mingling and creating something Bakura wasn't sure how to handle.  
  
Meryt looked down and beamed proudly at her daughter, who was half asleep. "Aww, Bakura, what shall we name her?"  
  
Bakura stared at the infant. He thought hard but none of the names seemed to fit. "I don't know...I need help."  
  
"How about if I say some girl names and you pick out the one you like, and that will be her name, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Ready? Here we go. Inet?"  
  
Bakura shook his head.  
  
"How about Neema?"  
  
Again Bakura shook his head.  
  
"Hmm...Reonet? Sabah? Bennu?"  
  
Bakura shook his head to all of them.  
  
Meryt was running out of names. "Maya?"  
  
Bakura stopped his mother. "Maya..."  
  
Meryt smiled at her son's choice. "Maya? You like that name?"  
  
Bakura looked at the nameless child. "She looks like a Maya. I like it."  
  
"Maya shall be her name. Thank you, Bakura, you've been a big help. You'll be a great big brother and Maya will love you very much. I can tell."  
  
Bakura smiled at his mother's sweet words, but the mixed confusing emotions churned inside Bakura where his mother couldn't see them; where no one could see them, except for Bakura. 


	5. Author's Note

Author's Note:  
  
Okay! Chapter 4 is here and I have started work on chapter 5.  
  
All the names that Meryt asked Bakura about were real Egyptian girl names. I looked them all up.  
  
Um, I have to make this short because it's about 3:30 am and I need to take a shower and go to bed because I need to get up early tomorrow. I'm on spring vacation from school at the moment (from 4/17 to 4/28) and I'm going to my cousin's house in Connecticut. Because I'll be at my cousin's house, and they don't have a working computer, I cannot work on my fic all of this week (4/21 to 4/26). I hardly ever use paper and pencil because I am just too lazy to convert it to the computer. But I will think about the fic and then I can just blast it out when I get home...hopefully. But then again...I haven't been getting as many reviews as usual, so I may just be my lazy self and not put too much more up for a while. Sorry to sound like a bitch, but hey, I have a lot of things I can do other than pour my life-blood into a fanfic, it's hard work. It was just my birthday a little over a week ago (4/10) and I got a lot of new stuff (in particular, 13 new videogames for my PS2) I could be playing with. Yeah, and I'm most likely moving, so my parents are all in a tizzy about buying the new house and selling the old one. Plus, I write more when I am happy and reviews make me happy. Um...okay...must go...sorry!  
  
Well, the rest of the Author's Note is pretty much the same:  
  
I just named and made up some people so far that don't have proof of non-existence...well they might...but I do not know about it, and yes, those are real Egyptian names, except 'Bak,' I just needed a good excuse to call him Bakura. I've been looking at the manga so I'll try to follow that story line, as well as throwing in my own bit of spice, it is my fic after all...correction, it is YOUR fic. That's right. It is my gift to you, but I'm writing it, so I get to add my spices. Right now it's all just my pure imagination, but I'll jump into the storyline of his life soon. Oh, and trust me, I do know what Bakura looked like in ancient Egypt. In all the pictures I saw he had brownish-redish eyes and white hair, but he does look different from what he looks like as a baby...he's still just a baby, he WILL change and that will probably make this fic fun to write. I mean it. I have MANY pictures because I am THE Bakura obsessed FREAK! What I do for love...  
  
I hope you liked my fic so far. I've been working hard. I'll try to get more chapters up ASAP. Kay?  
  
Once again, I thank you, S. A. Bonasi for giving me some great advice and warning me before I fell in over my head. You are a fic-saver! Oh, and thanks for giving me the address to a great site. I also thank the owner of that great site, Seena.  
  
Again, I thank you Seena. Just wanted to tell you that you've got a great site goin' there! I hope you can make it even bigger and better. Your site really did help me out quite a bit, even though I did know most of the stuff there, you helped me with the names and stuff like understanding Ka. I hope you don't mind me using it for a resource. If you want I might be help you because I know where to get some great pics and I may be able to provide info. I am Bakura obsessed with a big-ass shrine just sitting here on my computer desktop. Oh, and on your new fan section of your site, you can put my fanfics there if you want...I'll even write stuff personalized for your site and everything. I'll draw fanart too. Whatever you want! And I can link you on my site, which is still under major construction...but it's about Bakura and Yami Bakura. Although you probably don't want my stuff because I suck...oh well.  
  
Goodbye! I love you all,  
  
*~*~*Bishie Babe*~*~* 


	6. IMPORTANT NOTE!

Author's Note:  
  
I am SOOOOOOOOO sorry I haven't updated my fanfic in sooooo long! It was the end of school, and there were big tests and tons of homework... Sadly, I still can't update because my parents are redoing the house and I won't have the Internet until October, maybe even November. I apologize. Please forgive me, fans, friends whoever's still out there. I'm so sorry...  
  
Goodbye...  
  
*~*~*Bishie Babe*~*~* 


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